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I "Midnight Cowboy" screens tonight at the Michigan Theater.
=eaturing the talented duo of Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman and
he ever-classic line "I'm walkin' here!," this film gem explores
nale prostitution in the big city and the search for identity. 7 p.m.
$5.50 for students.
urie Sdigan attu
Tomorrow in Daily Arts:
U One of the many a cappella groups on campus, Gimble is
preparing for its spring concert. Come back to Daily Arts for
a preview.
Tuesday
April 6, 1999
5
ranan
'Children'
makes for perfect cinema
By Erin Podoisky
)aily Arts Writer
"Children of Heaven," an Oscar-nomi-
iated Iranian film that was unfortunately
ost in the midst of the Benigni lovefest,
>pens with a shot that seems like it will
ie r end. We see a man's old, cracked
ar fixing a little girl's pair of red
shoes. He uses a long
needle and an awl in his
attempt to tame them.
Children The shoes are as
cracked and faded as
of Heaven the old man's hands.
**** They fight with each
At the Michigan other, the hands and the
Theater, Thursday shoes and the cobbler's
at 7 p.m. tools.
The old man wins,
holds dominion over
the unruly red shoes.
He puts them in a bag
and hands them to a lit-
tle boy, Ali (Mir
arrokh Hashemian), who has brought
hem for repair. But the shoes have
lanned their revenge; they are inadver-
ently stolen right out from under Ali's
ose by a blind man collecting plastic
aO who is blissfully unaware of commit-
ng the robbery. It's so rare to find an
inciting incident so simple, so pure, and so
moving when we finally meet Ali's little
sister, Zahra (Bahare Seddiqi), to whom
the shoes belong. The relationship that is
painted and, indeed, evolves between the
siblings forms the core of "Children of
Heaven."
Who knew that a pair of shoes could
mean so much? Or that they could propel a
movie into the sublime?
Ali, 9-years-old and wise beyond his
years in the poverty of Tehran, is devastat-
ed by the loss of the shoes and convinces
Zahra not to tell their parents, assuring her
that somehow, in the mess of the inner
city, he will find them. They are poor; they
don't have enough money for new shoes.
But Zahra cannot go to school without the
shoes, so Ali offers her his sneakers. They
spend their days trading off the lone pair
of shoes, doing what essentially amounts
to a tag relay of footwear as Zahra runs
home from school and Ali races to school.
The red shoes reappear at a key point in
the film, surprisingly, as if to taunt Zahra
- although by this time, she has come to
love the feel of her brother's too-large
sneakers.
There isn't a single bad thing about
"Children of Heaven," no wrong camera
moves or acting choices or plot quibbles.
It is pure, affecting cinema, a "Bicycle
Thief" for the closing moments of this
century. At times, it is even brilliant: a
wonderfully conceived scene in which Ali
and Zahra argue about the shoes by writ-
ing notes back. and forth in their school-
books as their parents argue aloud about
their mother's bad back will take your
breath away. There is a "Rocky"-like scene
at the end where Ali tries harder than any-
body we've ever seen to get Zahra a new
pair of shoes, made all the more poignant
by something his father is doing at the
same time - and made perfect by direc-
tor/writer Majid Majidi's decision not to
end on the smarmy note that he could have
if he had been blinded by cliche and story-
book endings.
The performances by the children are
among the best you'll see this year -
adults included. They're at once perfectly
logical and irrational and impossibly prac-
tical as only kids can be, and Majidi gets
tears and teeth without a moment of
implausibility. The adults in the film are
excellent as well, especially in their inter-
action with the children.
"Children of Heaven" is subtitled and,
probably, ostensibly a children's film, but
don't let that deter you from seeing this
cinematic gem. It is as much for adults as
Courtesy of Miramax
Bahare Seddiqi portrays one of Majid Majidi's endearing characters in "Children of Heaven."
it is for kids. The dialogue is, like every-
thing else, deceptively simple; there is
poetry there. There is poetry in the images
as well. That's what this film is (and all
film should be): a poem, simple, quick and
unparalleled in its lyric beauty.
'Hoops' dunks in to celebrate Madness
Fox Sports College
Hoops '99
COMPANY
Nintendo 64
*r
"Fox Sports College Hoops '99"
has beaten the buzzer after numer-
ous delays and now stands to soak
up some March Madness hype.
However, the game, originally titled
"Z-Axis Basketball," can be
summed up by one word- brick.
The idea of assuming the identi-
ty of Elton Brand of the Duke Blue
Devils or Louis Bullock of the
Michigan Wolverines brings a cer-
tain novelty, but don't get too excit-
ed yet. Although Fox Sports man-
aged to fit almost all of your favorite
teams, the names of the players can-
not be used because the NCAA
doesn't license their athletes.
Thus, Bullock becomes Jones,
Robby Reid is now Preston. All your
favorites form into what's-his-face
no-names. Not only does this severe-
res ly decrease the fun of playing as
your favorite team, it requires figur-
ing out and memorizing each players
strengths and weaknesses.
If you can forgo this mess of a
name game you are rewarded with a
crappy basketball game. The game-
play pales in comparison with EA
Sport's "NBA Live '99" and there is
little that can be said for the
mechanics.
"College Hoops '99" moves so
slowly that it feels like its being
played underwater. Apparently, the
designers decided the best way to
limit going to the hoop every time
was to call charging each time two
players touch each other. Another
quirk, which apparently tried to
compensate
for the busy
ref whistles, isw
that every
player can, at
any moment, 0
assume the
identity of
M i c h a e l
Jordan andl
dunk from
beyond the
free-throw line 't
or do an underhand
lay-up over three or four
defense men.
Another hassle is that going out
of bounds is way too easyunless the
game is set on freshman (easy) mode
which allows you to run out of
bounds and come in for a lay-up at
will.
The inclusion of on-demand
trash talk helps mock and humiliate
your opponent after a particularly
nasty dunk. But since the sound in
this game also stinks to high hell,
most of the time your player garbles
out some unidentifiable taunt. Wfien
you can make out the talk, you real-
ize that* in fact, the taunts are really
pretty lame with highlights such as,
"One more year!", "All-American!"
and "Jurassic!"
The use of one button push
instant replay speeds up the game
while allowing the best
plays to get played
back in cinematic
camera style. The only
drawback is
that some the
FME IA camera
angles make.
the replay use-
less because it
lags behind the
action.
The graph-
ics fair a little
better but not a
whole lot. The play-
ers look blocky and
generic. Nothing distinguishes one
from another and even the tall guys
blend into the crowd. Speaking of
which, all the arenas are exactly the
same and even Crisler has fans
which jump up and down after every
basket... go figure.
Controlling players and the
gameplay is too simple for its own
good. The gameplay gets repetitive
too quickly. Run down court, juke
and dunk. Try to mix up the formula
and you will discover that making a
basket occurs on a random basis,
whether or not you are guarded.
Therefore setting up a play does lit-
tle good and the computer controlled
players don't make much of an effdrt
to block shots anyway.
Sometimes even the worst game
can salvage some redemption from
multiplayer options that increase the
excitement by pitting friend against
friend. But "College Hoops '99"
manages to screw this one up also.
Along with the absence of four play-
er action, the game doesn't allow
two players on the same team.
Therefore, the only option is to play
against a friend and then let the
dunking and charging begin.
Whoever dunks more and charges
less wins. Yee-haw!
If you crave fun in your basket-
ball games, break out "Double
Dribble" for Nintendo or "NBA
Live '99" for Nintendo 64. If col-
lege hoops is an absolute necessity,
go rent "College Hoops '99" and
take Michigan to the finals. Reliving
the glory of the championship sea-
son has never been this little fun
before.
- William Nash
Courtesy of Touchstone Pictur
limberly Elise and Thandle Newton portray sisters in "Beloved."
Black'eloved,'
[uarch into video store.
y Matthew Barrett
knd Aaron Rich
)aily Arts Writers
Disappointed by the shortened
4BA season? Then play some b-
all yourself, or watch some in
American History X." The film's
ighlight is a reverse slam by
rd Norton on a hoop that
tands no more than eight feet high.
3oth Jesus and Jake Shuttlesworth
re ashamed.
ddie if you
an't get up for
ten foot hoop,
on't get up all New On
)espite the low Video This
oop, Norton Week
,alks high in
he sky in the
:a4role as an
x-racist Nazi skinhead. Also look
or Beverly D'Angelo, better
nown as Ellen Griswold from the
meless "Vacation" movies.
Blessed with a long title "A
oldier's Daughter Never Cries," is
he weepy eyed, semi-autobio-
raphical tale of the daughter of
uthor James Jones. This Merchant-
vq collaboration is true in nature
. predecessors long and
low. Tears will flow, and not just
because it took Malick 20years to
direct his adaptation of Jones' "The
Thin Red Line," although that's sad
too. Think about it sophomores,
this auteur has only directed one
movie in your lifetime. And
Michael Bay has directed three.
Sad.
Boasting Brad Pitt and a mighty
running time "Meet Joe Black"
finds its way to video stores today.
Pitt plays the grim reaper who
comes to befriend Anthony
Hopkins and pound some peanut
butter. The movie is long and this
preview is short.
Early this fall, "Beloved" was
considered a major Oscar con-
tender. Well, the statues have been
passed out and Oprah and crew
went home empty handed. But all is
not lost for the powerful talker, the
movie did score a nomination for
Best Costumes. This adaptation of
the Toni Morrison novel shows that
Oprah can do more than host a tele-
vision program.
Despite the presence of screen-
power Brandy and striking talent
Mekhi Phifer, "I Still Know What
You Did Last Summer" will bore
you to tears. Even if you're a sol-
dier's daughter.
FIFA's soccer gives players a good kick
FIFA '99
EA SPORTS
PlavStation
Fans disappointed by the pathetic
showing of the United States in the
past World Cup can take their feelings
out on the rest of the world in "FIFA
99," a fast-paced soccer game from EA
SPORTS. "FIFA 99" has everything
that a player could want in a soccer
video game - 240 teams, including
the all-important national squads, 12
leagues, play-by-play announcing, a
variety of stadiums and a playing setup
that is very easy to learn.
Gainers can choose from a variety
of angles to determine how the contest
is viewed, including a very cool tower
cam. Other factors left to choice
include the time of the game, location
and the all-important weather (rain and
sleet are both nice choices).
The players in the game are realis-
tic looking and for the most part,
include the actual players who would
be on the teams. The appearance of the
players is another strong point, rather
than going for the "life-like" three-
dimensional blobs seen in some video
games, the makers chose a simple
design.
Controlling your soldiers is pretty
simple, as things like passing and lobs,
which have the potential to be diffi-
cult, can be picked up after a few min-
utes of playing the game. In fact the
only difficult thing is the corner kicks
which end up being little more than a
shot in the dark.
One down point of the game is the
referees. In an apparent effort to keep
things clean on the playing field, most
of the referees have a very low toler-
ance for dirty play and are more than
willing to issue multiple yellow and
red cards to a team in a single game.
Which brings us to the best aspect of
"FIFA 99" - slide tackles. Simply
put, they are the best thing about this
game and the great equalizer in the
classic tussles with your opponent.
While your adversary may be more tal-
ented, if you are a slide tackling
demon, you can keep any game
respectable.
One curious thing about the game
is the teams in its U. S. league. With
the popularity of Major League
Soccer, it would seem natural to
include the teams from that league.
But this isn't the case, and teams from
such non-soccer cities as Montreal,
Vancouver and even Detroit are
included.
But in the big picture this is irrele-
vant, because the prime-time games
take place on the international level.
"FIFA 99" has so many possibilities
that a player would be hard pressed to
ever experience all of the game's fea-
tures. Like a well-placed penalty shot,
"FIFA 99" scores.
- Matthew Barrett
The Office ofNew Student Programs
is now recruiting
Fall and International
Orientation Leaders
Leader duties will include running check-in and
registration, facilitating an informational meeting,
leading a walking tour, participating in social
activities, and assisting in class registration.
Pav- 65/dav.
..