20 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 22, 1997 Necrophilia makes for love sto in 'Kssed' By Julia Shih Daily Arts Writer When the people run to theaters to see the new romantic movie, "Kissed," it would be best if they are forewarned that it is not the usual sappy Hollywood romance. In fact, the movie is anything but mundane. "Kissed" tells the story of a pretty girl named Sandra Larson (Molly Parker) who has a fascination with death - not just the morbidity of it, but the spir- itual and mysterious aspects of it. Her fascination with death leads her to a local funeral parlor, where she becomes an employee. It is there, surrounded by death, that'she finds meaning in her life. During the day, Sandra learns the tricks of the trade. Throughout the night, Sandra experiences intimate sex- ual relationships with the male corpses, which allows her to feel what it's like to "cross over" to the other side. As she works at the funeral home and studies the art of embalming, she meets Matt (Peter Outerbridge), a lonely and passionate medical student with whom she falls in love. According to Lynne Stopkewich, the director of "Kissed," "Matt is the first person to whom Sandra has revealed herself in a long, long time. He is fascinated by her passion and then develops his own obsession with it. Like Sandra, he wants to lose himself in it, feel what it's like to cross over, get out of his head for a moment. He wants to experience sex in the way Sandra does and achieve what the French call 'le petit mort'- orgasm ... described as 'the little death."' But Sandra refuses to allow Matt to experience her world in which love, sex and death intermingle, result- ing in "Kissed" becoming a movie about a tragically transcendent love. Though the movie tells the tale of a woman who is a necrophiliac, the film does not focus itself entirely on this tabooed subject. "The film is more about obsessive love than any- thing else. And love, nature and desire. And about larger things like sexuality and mortality," Stopkewich said. "It wasn't ever meant to be a documentary or a slice of life about a character who has this particular sexu- al preference," she continued. "It was more than that. Basement Arts ends season with 'subUrbia Molly Parker stars in "Kissed," a love story based around necrophilia. So in making this movie, given our limited resources, I thought it would probably be the strongest choice to focus on her story and to maintain that voice through- out the movie no matter what. "And there was a lot of temptation in the shooting and the editing and all the way along, even the writing to sort of create all these other subplots of other char- acters. But you have to be pragmatic when you're making your first film and just focus on taking one lit- tle step at a time and handle what you can handle." For Stopkewich, "Kissed" is the Canadian director's trophy after a lifetime of hard work and dedication. As a chronic film student, Stopkewich completed a BFA in film production at Concordia University in Montreal, where she created her first 16mm short films: "The Flipped Wig," a musical comedy about a girl's first trip to the gynecologist, and "The $3 Wash & Set," a hilarious romp through a 1960s beauty salon. After winning various festival awards in New York and San Francisco for both short films, Stopkewich then headed to the University of British Columbia to complete an MFA in film. With so much knowledge and expertise gained from years as a film student, Stopkewich felt that she was ready to tackle her first feature film. After falling in love with a short story about necrophilia, titled "We So Seldom Look on Love," by Barbara Gowdy, Stopkewich decided to write a screenplay based on the story. Gowdy later approved of the screenplay, and the rest, as they say, is history. While preparing "Kissed" for production, the hard- est thing was the casting. The adult actors were rela- tively easy to cast, but the child performers required for the scenes of Sandra as a child were difficult to track down, considering the film's subject matter. When willing young actors were found and every- thing was in place, the production went smoothly and Stopkewich was quite pleased with the results. Apparently so were critics everywhere, as "Kissed" has earned rave reviews and was also among five Canadian features selected for showcase at the Independent Feature Film Market in New York. Though the success of "Kissed" with the critics has left Stopkewich stunned, she is unsure of how the gen- eral public will take the film. "I don't think this film is cut out for everyone," Stopkewich said. "Or, I don't think everyone is cut out for this movie, I should say. I don't think you take on this kind of story without thinking that there are cer- tain people who might walk out, or people who might be angry with you creating certain images ... But I hope they can see past that and enjoy the way the story has been told and the integrity with which it's told. And the choices that we made cinematically to tell that story. Because I tried to do everything that I could to desensationalize (necrophilia) and not exploit it." For a story on such an outrageous subject, Stopkewich has done an excellent job at creating a movie that speaks to the very heart of the soul. So be forewarned that "Kissed" does not contain the same subject matter found in your average romantic fluff movie. But it does contain a level of emotion that to which all audiences can relate through a passionate love story, told using the union between life and death. By Christopher Tkaczyk Campus Arts Editor Following the success of the Fall Season's Basement Arts production of "Burn This," BFA senior Allison Tkac is again directing a show in the Basement. This time around she is tack- ling "subUrbia," one of the more modern and hipper PI pieces of theater that has come outW of Lincoln Center. w Written by Eric Bogosian, "subUrbia" has been critically acclaimed and has recently been filmed by director David Lynch. Tkac plans to present the play as it was originally intended - as a comedic drama that doesn't play up the better side of life in the suburbs, but instead makes things appear realistic without painting a pretty picture of life. The movie version of the play was changed by Lynch to make the lives of its char- acters seem happier, and doesn't dwell on their realism. The story of the drama surrounds a group of teenagers who sit outside a 7-11 while waiting for a"former high school friend to return. Pony, the former friend, has made it big on MTV and is now a rock star. While the characters remember Pony Bogosian's tale REVIEW subUrbia d. at 4 p.m., Thurs. Sat. at 7 p.m., Fri. at 11 p.m. Arena Theaterj as being dorky and null of social skills. they can't understand how he became so famous. Unlike in "Waiting for Godot, Pony does eventually arrive, and the rest of the play follows the interaction between him and the group of friends. I sk"i is strictly Generatic X. Tkac explained, "Bogosian writes for a tribe of people who will under- stand his work only if they are a part of the tribe. My grandmother would not understand this show" While the play follows the story of a bunch of slackers, it is not strictly a sta version of "The Breakfast Club. Its issues dig deep into modem events, including homosexuality, AIDS and drugs. Tkac is excited about "subUrbia" She considers thisproduction to be her swan song, since she intends to gradu- ate in May. She explained, "this is the largest cast I've ever assembled, and the amount of enthusiasm they have is incredible. They have enough energy to blow the roof of the Arena." This production concludes the Winter 1997 season of Basement Arts. With an excellent story and an acclaimed, cre- ative director, "subUrbia" looks to be closing the Basement with a bang. Blisskrieg Bop! 101 'Blank' soundtrack falls short of town's ritzy image Various Artists Grosse Pointe Blank Soundtrack London For a movie based in the suburbs of Detroit, wouldn't it have been a great idea to comprise the soundtrack of great musical acts from the Motor City like Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, The Stooges and Ted Nugent? Instead, we get a hodgepodge of pre- viously released tracks, the majority from '70s British punk and ska acts. "Grosse Pointe Blank Soundtrack" makes for a good mix of classic tunes that are all worth a listen if you don't already own them, and its few erratic selections like Guns N' Roses' "Live and Let Die" and Faith No More's "We Care A Lot" add a bit of flair to what seems like a customary film soundtrack. Kicking off the record is the Violent Femmes' classic "Blister in the Sun." The Femmes have a second song on the disc (you didn't know they had more than one song, did you?) with a new version of "Blister," titled "Blister 2000" The Clash makes two appear- ances on the record with "Rudie Can't Fail" and Armagideon Time," while fel- low Brits The Jam ("Absolute Beginners"), The English Beat ("Mirror in the Bathroom') and The Specials (with the reggae classic "Pressure Drop") all show up with a track. Johnny Nash's melodic "I Can See Clearly Now," and David Bowie & Queen's "Under Pressure" are two of the record's best additions. Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door (E. Cola Mix)" and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' "El Matador" help to pull in the slack and round out a what makes for a soundtrack we could all probably deal without. Brian A. Guinat MARGARET MYERS/Daily Those wacky kids in Performance Art 354 are having their final performances at the Media Union on North Campus on April 29 and 30, titled "Blisskrieg." Expect a variety of expositions from poetry to body mutilations - fun for the entire family! The class is led by Rusell Taylor, a.k.a. Satori Circus (bottom left). Best of all, it's free! Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show begins at 8. U U JAVA DO&%GO 00 microsystems SOLARIS TM 01 01 Join our solar system! Are you "technical", but don't want to debug software? Are you a Business major, but crunching spreadsheets isn't your cup of tea? Hey, forget tea: think coffee, as in JAVA! We're recruiting Systems Engineers: the experts who tell the technical story to customers, in language they can understand. 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