utf tautw at It all begins tonight with a special presentation of "West Side Story." Don't miss your chance to see the Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins classic on the big screen. Starring Natalie Wood, the musical tells the tale of a Puerto Rican Juliet and her anglo Romeo as they love in the face of gang warfare. Dance, sing or fight your way to the Michigan Theater tonight at 7 - just play it cool. $5 for students, $6.50 if you're Officer Krupke. Tuesday November 18, 1997 5 criggis' 'One Night' is hard to stand By Matthew Barrett Daily Arts Writer A bad start to a bad movie. "One Night Stand," directed by Mike Figgis, starts with an aside in which NJ& (Wesley Snipes) tells us e thing about his life. A good part of the next half hour is spent RI showing us what Max has just told us. Come on - give the NOOne audience a little credit. The makers would have been much better off scrapping the aside and starting off with the second scene. In a dark room, amidst flashing strobe lights, models are taught how to strut their stuff as the c ts roll. Starting with this would have done a lot m e to grab the attention of the audience than the first scene. Granted, it wouldn't have made the movie spectacular, but it would have been a start. The plot is fairly simple. Max is an advertising director who's in New York on a business trip and to pay a visit to his gay, HIV-positive friend, Charlie (Robert Downey Jr.). He misses his plane and ends up spending a passionate night with Karen (Nastassja Kinski). Max returns home to wife Mimi (Ming-Na Wen), but nothing is the same. "One Night Stand" is hurt by a terrible script, poor d~ting and horrendous acting (save Downey). The movie never seems to know where it is going and with the way the characters are developed, it's hard for the audience to care. It's impossible to feel for Max's tor- tured soul if you take a step back from the action to see wvhat a slimeball he is. All he does is lounge ,L around, smoke weed, shoot an occasional commercial and think to himself how bad his life is. As bad as Snipes is in his role, Kinski is worse. Karen and Max are supposed to be linked by an incredible bond. They were w brought together by fate, yet there V I E W is no chem- Night Stand between theA two charac- ters. They At Showcase stare at each other with doting eyes, but if they are really supposed to be soul> mates, isn't there something they should share besides an attraction for each other's bod- ies? Also detracting from the film is Figgis' inclusion of constant music. This quickly becomes distracting and annoying for the viewer. Several times through- out the film, characters are whispering things to each other that are drowned out by the background music. This hap- pens during key moments, Robert Downey Jr.t where it is more important to busy felony schedu hear what the characters are say- ing than to see them reacting to each other. Figgis also ends almost every scene by cutting to a black screen and then back to the action. This serves no purpose except to accentuate the fact that "One Night Stand" is a jilted movie that has no flow. After Max has spent some time in Los Angeles, the movie jumps a year ahead, as Max returns to New York to be with a dying Charlie. Despite a-few dopey lines, Downey gives an excel- lent performance that allows the audience to understand his suf- fering. It's hard not to shudder as Charlie's body twists in pain on the hospital bed. Although his advice to Max may not be that profound, Downey's deliv- ery is. You're left sitting on the edge of your seat, as he strug- gles to mix his words with breaths on an oxygen machine, never knowing which breath will be his last. Not surprisingly, while in the New York area, Max has anoth- er encounter with Karen. What ensues is one of the few unex- pected and well-done sequences of the movie. The last 20 min- utes come out of nowhere to sal- vage an otherwise weak and kes time out of his unenjoyable movie. for "One Night." Brought down by bad acting, writing and directing, "One Night Stand" lacks the chemistry and emotion between characters that is necessary for it to work. ta We Nastassja Kinski and Wesley Snipes stare blankly at each other, in preparation for a night of meaningless lust in Mike Figgis' disappointing "One Night Stand." Qperas reign at Power Center By Stephanie Love Daily Arts Writer Don't believe anyone who says opera has to be stuffy. Ask an audi- ence member from R Saturday night's t e performance of Ravel's "L'Enfant es Sortileges' an they will tell you otherwise. The antics of a child (Deborah Lifton) frustrated with his homework set the scene for Ravel's one-act opera. Suddenly a world of agitated clocks and dancing frogs was possible to believe. Brief appearances by the Teapot and Chinese Cup, Arithmetic, the 1chair and Wingchair, and the W ite and Black cats were captivating and humorous. But Lifton carried the performance with her charisma and a voice which made Revel's score sound as it were indeed simply child's play. Joshua Major's direction and chore- ography were excellent. The opera showcased the talent of the cast as an ensemble as well EVIEW t les Sortileges & Le Rossignol Power Center as the individual singers as they flew around the stage in a frenzy of music and color. Equally impressive was the simplicity but effectiveness of Nov.15,1997 the set that further emphasized the talent of the perform- ers. In addition, the University Symphony Orchestra played a major role, often creating the setting through the highly intricate scores of both operas. In fact, the orchestra may have helped carry Stravinsky's "Le Rossignol," the first half of the double feature. "Le Rossignol" was not excessively atonal, nor was the story uninteresting or the quality inferior. What kept this production from appealing to the audience was simply the lack of action,iwhich the perform- ers struggled with throughout the opera. Often there was no motion from anyone on stage, which forced the singers and orchestra to carry the per- formance solely through their musical interpretation. At times, it seemed as if this was too much to ask from the performers. Jennifer Larson, who played the Nightingale, gave a very respectable performance of a difficult part. Other commendable performances included Scott Piper's narration as the Fisherman. Kathryn Hart was charming as the Cook, and was able to connect with the audience in a way that the other char- acters did not. But even Stravinsky lovers had to admit that the Ravel made the evening while "Le Rossignol" just didn't move the audience in the way it could have. Although one might question the programming, the quality of both per- formances was apparent, even if the Ravel was more fun to watch. 'Wings of the Dove' takes off! Daily Arts loves its readers. This is your chance to join Alison Elliott, Linus Roache and Helena Bonham Carter in the gondola of love, lust and betrayal found in Henry James' "Wings if the Dove." Simply come to the Daily Arts office in the Student Publications Building at 420 Maynard St. after 1 p.m. todayand answer the all-too- easy trivia question. Tell us in what European city these :lovebirds may be lounging and you and a guest could be on your way to a spe- cial sneak preview tonight; courtesy of Miramax Films and Daily Arts. Hurry in, because supplies are limited. Helena Bonham Carter in "The Wings of the Dove." : x ; Iaylor brings 'Life' to Ann Arbor By Jason Boog For the Daily Local poet Keith Taylor summed up his own work best with the title of one of his collections, P F "Life Science."' Writer Thomas ch agrees, writ- , "(Taylor's) poems (have a) generous and persistent witness: of flora and fauna and his fellow humans." Best of all, in poems like "Counting Birds at the Bookshop," Taylor captures the experience of thousands of Ann Arbor residents and students with a careful eye. He writes of the campus' flocks of birds, "this winter's murder of ows gather(ing) each evening on three is half a block down around the col- lege arts building," and Ann Arbor can see the image. But Taylor's work is not bound to Ann Arbor, as his four books of poetry and his one collection of short stories span generations between Canada and California. A current manager at Shaman Drum Bookstore, his experi- ence includes teaching at U of M, house rnting and working as a pinball arcade 4ndant. It is obvious that Taylor's work depends on such varied experi- ences. On the writing side of Taylor's life, he has served as an Isle Royale National Park Artist in Residence and earned a fellowship with the National Endowment for the Arts. Concerning m H quite soil, ten thousand scattered, glis- tening flecks of stones." Nature is Taylor's most sacred mys- tery, as his work proves. A love for E V I E W birds is a major (eith Taylor motif for the writer, as their distant, nat- Today a pm ural observation of ackham Amphitheater hu Free humanity is cap- tured in the short story, "Lament for the Crested Shelduck." Above a Russian boat, Taylor writes, "the birds would have been part of the mist in the evening, swimming off from the riverboat, reclu- sive and wary of men." Nature's stun- ning beauty and indifference and Taylor's conservative upbringing are the major aspects of Taylor's "Life Science.' His more adult reflections in "Dance Suite" explore his new identity after escaping childhood religious dilemmas. "Dance is as real as rocks ... as love, as someplace lived in," Taylor decides about the once forbidden activity. Currently, Taylor has decided to settle in Ann Arbor, feeling "it was important to find a place for a home ... Ann Arbor has been good to me." r - - - - - - - I I I i I lI A- ,K t ,, , f ,~I .. ..:I ..I E ' END OF SEMESTER SPECIAL! i 'Buy any drink, get a second drink;