The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 22, 997 - 9 *True story shines on screen By Kelly Xintaris Daily TV / New Media Editor "Shine" is an Australian import based on the life of classical pianist David Helfgott, a man blessed with prodigious musical talent, but cursed by the pressures of an over-zealous father Armin Mueller- Stahl). Newcomer and) RI prime Oscar-can- didate Geoffrey / Rush plays Helfgott, who first appears scamper- ing through the rain toward a small cafe, seemingly euphoric. Looking haggard and acting yperactive, Rush demands attention from the opening scene, ending his stac- cato outbursts with, "Oh yes, the tragedy of it all, the tragedy." Rush's perfor- mance rightfully deserves praise, as he comfortably fills the shoes of a man who suffers -and succeeds because of his obsessive relationship with music. In 4; refreshingly different move, director Scott Hicks ("Strictly Ballroom") then cuts to flashbacks of a E' Helfgott's childhood and troubled ado- lescence. Most of the film centers on Helfgott's growing years, which send him spiralling toward a nervous break- down. Under the reign of an overpro- tective, controlling father who was trau- matized by the Holocaust, young David (Alex Rafalowicz) grows into a fragile, V I E W socially over- whelmed teen-ager Shine (Noah Taylor). Rafalowicz is adorable and con- At Ann Arbor1& 2 vincing in the role of little Helfgott, a boy who never knew the release of a free-wheeling childhood because he was too busy fulfilling his father's expectations. By the time Rafalowicz passes the baton to Taylor, some sort of catastrophe seems imminent. For audi- ences who like a little unpredictability with their dramatic tension, "Shine" may not seem as brilliant as the hype surrounding the film would have you believe. Yes, this is one of 1996's brighter cinematic offerings, but no, it is not the Hope Diamond of bio-dra- mas. Although the dysfunctional family premise is not exactly new, the stellar job of the supporting cast makes these characters memorable. Mueller-Stahl's eyes go from warm, comforting pools of blue to icy crystals of rage with amazing frequency and believability. Taylor, a young actor to watch for, turns in a dynamite performance that cuts to the very core of Helfgott's delicate being. Helfgott goes from playing recital pieces in grade school to attack- ing the "Rach 3" at the Royal College of Music in London, an endeavor so debilitating that its completion lands him in a mental hospital. With some fine acting to back up a story that spans the '50s through the '80s, Hicks' ambitious attempt to elicit as much sad emotion as possible sometimes falls flat. After spending some time establishing Helfgott's platonic relation- ship with Katherine Prichard (Googie Withers), a wealthy widow, Hicks fails to make it truly relevant. David visits Katherine for months out of loneliness and presumably the need for a better maternal figure, and he later learns of her Geoffrey Rush stars as David Hefgott, a troubled and brilliant pianist, in "Shine." death while in London. Because of this weak subplot, though, Taylor's devasta- tion is not especially moving. Later, when Hicks returns to Helfgott (Rush) during his middle-aged years, the second major female role comes in the form of Gillian (Lynn Redgrave). The last quarter of the film shows Helfgott in love (literally at first sight), then married, and finally reunited with his beloved piano. One minute, Rush is mingling with a mental patient, and soon, he is walking down the aisle. Without know- ing that "Shine" is based on the actual events in the life of this little-known man, such quick transitions would seem very contrived, as if Hicks had to paste on a happy ending. Hicks' "Shine" ultimately gleams, however, with several winning scenes. In one of the film's more touching moments, Helfgott (Rush) deals with the shock of seeing his father after years of paternal abandonment. Later, as Helfgott bounces on a trampoline wearing noth- ing but a trenchcoat and a Walknman, his euphoria is contagious. Watching an older and wiser Helfgott finally find happiness, you revel in your discovery of this little gem of a film. Swans gilide into 4. of *D etoi By Ted Watts For the Daily Want a great marketing gimmick? Look no further than to long term ambi- ent rockers the Swans. With the release of its newest album, "Soundtracks for the Blind," the band (meaning the two primaries, Michael Gira and the mono- sobriqueted Jarboe) announced that it wasn't going to record any more studio albums and that its next tour would be the last. It's the old carnival trick: "Last chance to see!" Like all the ads have said, tonight is the Swans' final area appearance - with a special live line- up, including ex-Cop Shoot Cop drum- merq Phil Puleo to boot. Frontman Gira spoke about the wind- ing down of his band in an interview with The Michigan Daily earlier this week. "I wanted to do one last thing;' Gira *aid. "I did this album. I decided it would be the last P one, and I wanted to do afinal tour to put a lid on it. It's 15 years of largely frustrating and Cal pointless work so I decided to finish with a bang or a whim- r, depending on how you look at it. "Ihave a lot of ideas, music I want to do'" Gira explained, "but I think the name Swans is more of a hindrance at this point than a help because it has so much history attached to it. It seems to set a series of preconceptions in peo- Gripping 'Ghosts' awakens past By Julia Shih Daily Arts Writer It's good to know that there are other people besides John Grisham inside Hollywood's world of courtroom dra- mas. Rob Reiner's latest directorial effort, "Ghosts of Mississippi," details the assassination of civil rights leader R1 Medgar Evers and the 30 years it took to bring about jus- tice. mi Jarboe and Michael ira of Swans. ple's minds before they listen to it, or before they decide not to listen to the music. So I've just decided that 15 years is enough self-torture for anyone to endure, and I want to go out and do other things.' "Soundtracks for the Blind" is, in some ways, an album that summarizes the band's history. "We had about seven songs or pieces;' Gira said. "Some of them are just long instrumental pieces that we recorded with the band that we toured with last year. "I knew I wanted to do a more sound- RE VIE W Swans Tonight at 8 St. Andrews Hall il 961MELT.18 and over. scape kind of tex- tural record than I had in the past,' he continued. "So I had this large library of sounds I've compiled since 1981. Some of them were found into the computer, and I started collaging and turning things backwards and mutat- ing and mutilating them." The packaging for the record is also complex., "It's a doutle digipak, and it opens up like a book,# Gira said. "It looks really good, and it feels really good because it weighs a lot. It weighs like a book. I figure, it's my life's work, so far, any- way. I want it to be exactly how I want it for once. I want no loose ends. I want the presentation to match the music per- fectly." Still, Gira holds some negative emo- tions for his work. "I probably regret that I ever started (the band)," he said. "I would have been an artist or a writer probably. But my life was ruined by punk rock. That's what happened, that's the way fate is. I'm proud of the work we've done, I just think it's a hopeless ... I don't even want to dignify it with 'profession.' It's a hopeless line of work to get into as far as any kind of future or anything like that." Now, you've been warned, and there's enough reasoning that it's proba- bly not one of those Ramone deals. Never again will the Swans grace a Detroit stage. Last chance to see. It is the night of June 12, 1963, and- Evers, the first field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Mississippi, returns home to his wife and children. As he wearily gets out of his car, he is shot in the back by a white supremacist named Byron De La Beckwith (James Woods). As a white man accused of killing a black man in the racist South, he gets off easily, despite two attempts to convict him. Enter determined assistant district attorney Bobby DeLaughter (Alec Baldwin) 30 years later. Urged on by Evers' wife, Myrlie (Whoopi Goldberg), DeLaughter is able to reopen the case despite heavy opposition. As DeLaughter, Alec Baldwin defi- nitely has his work cut out for him. The . .. prosecutor was a man who single-hand- edly attempted to change a way of thinking in Mississippi that had gone on for centuries. But by trying to convict a man of a crime committed 30 years ago in a still-biased state, with evidence missing and a lack of live witnesses, DeLaughter stood r V I E W to lose everything. Yet his passion and Ghosts of determination MiSSISSippi allowed him to *** keep going. At Ann Arbor 1 & 2 Baldwin plays the role with a great deal of passion but slips into occasional lapses of mediocrity at times. A far stronger performance is given by Whoopi Goldberg. Playing a woman who patiently endured 30 years of wait- ing and suffering, Whoopi is utterly outstanding. Relying on subtlety, she can provoke waves of emotion through the mere raising of her eyebrows. This performance is reminiscent of past superb performances by Goldberg such as in "The Long Walk Home" with one difference - a little bronze man should be knocking on her door for this one. James Woods is also excellent as an arrogant racist. As De La Beckwith, he is the stuff of which nightmares are made. He's haunting, sporting an irrational hatred that feels like a slap to the face every time he speaks, yet this irrationali- ty is almost humorous at times. Make sure to look out for Wood's antics in the background of the courtroom scenes. In the style of other movies, such as "Mississippi Burning," "Ghosts of Mississippi" rides on the power of strong images of hate, though surpris- ingly, not one burning cross appeared throughout the entire film. The opening shot sequence has a feel of an Oliver Stone movie, with old news clips of racial tension in the South setting up the somber mood. Kudos go out to Rob Reiner and. writer Lewis Colick who are able to smoothly move the movie through three decades. Though the film occasionally lags (the running time is actually 130 minutes), a lot of this drag-time is devoted to character development atten- tion to detail. "Ghosts of Mississippi" documents real events that changed people's lives. It tells the story from beginning to end in a compelling fashion. From the night when a shot rang out that shattered dreams to the final verdict, "Ghosts of Mississippi" is a gripping drama which takes audiences on an intense roller coaster ride. With especially outstand ing performances by Whoopi Goldberg and James Woods, this film is not one that you are likely to forget. U I sounds, or tape loops made on cassettes, different synthesizer sounds and little narrations and things I've collected. After having recorded those basic songs, I went to a little mastering studio in Atlanta that has a pretty sophisticated computer program called Sonic Solutions. I started dumping all that stuff JOHN CLEESE JAMIE LEE CURTIS KEVIN KUNE MICHAEL PAUN . ; ,4 r. ; _ . " 3,', , 11 Come UNDERGROUND for hot bands!! C ** Grand Dpeniog Celebration Jan. 23r4 and 24th 8-11PM free stuff free music art exhibition door prizes free food a great time C a C a Thursday 23rd Spotlight Series free music ever Amaizin' Blue Gentlemen 8 to11PM Thursday 30th Friday 24th LI Drive Train Lapdogs 8 toll PM Friday 31st f , F ; . FJ m sin, NoU 2