I
U Jonathon Demme's "Beloved" screens this afternoon at Lorch.
Following the screening of the 1998 film starring Oprah Winfrey
and Danny Glover is a discussion about both the Toni Morrison
novel and the film. 3 p.m.
e idngan ri y
Tuesday in Daily Arts:
U A review of James Spader's newest attempt at reviving his
career, the latest sci-fi hell "Supernova."
Friday
January 14, 2000
5
Rxder's'Girl' lacks
book's realism
By Laura Flyer
Daily Arts Writer
Susanna Kaysen's autobiographi-
cal novel, "Girl, Interrupted," is a
fascinating story not because it is
told from the perspective of a mental
patient (Ken Kesey already gave this
vision to us earlier), but rather
because she delivers introspective
details that are gripping to read. She
brings us into her mind and tries her
best to describe her mental process-
es, thereby minimizing the distanc-
ing effect caused by trying to under-
stand the insane. Scientific terminol-
ogy and psychiatric analysis may
Courtesy of Fox
Malcolm (Frankie Munz) looks a little too much like that Chuckie doll from "Child's Play."
Litle 'alcolm'd-uv h
raies arg lagh
}L
Interrupted
At Briarwood and
and Quality 16
describe the con-
dition compre-
hensively, but
one wonders
whether or not
apt connections
are made
between the
diagnosis and
the therapeutic
some attention as a flamboyant char-
acter who also acts as a friend and
mentor However, the film lacks in
realism in various ways. It does not
do justice to Kaysen's probing self-
awareness as delineated in he'r novel.
"Girl, Interrupted" begins in 1967
with Kaysen's entrance into
Claymoore, a mental hospital in a
suburb of Boston, after she washes
down a bottle of aspirin with a bottle
of vodka. She claims it was not an
attempted suicide, but rather an
effort to put an end to her tortured
mind. Her entrance into the institu-
tion is voluntary, though she could
not have escaped the pressure from
her doctor, who diagnosed Kaysen,
simultaneously pre-arranged for a
cab, and warned the driver not to
stop until they reached Claymoore.
Occupying many constituents of
wealthy families, Claymoore boasts
of a hotel-like atmosphere. The
patients peep out of their rooms upon
the arrival of Susanna, and we see
how Mangold does not fail to include
an entire spectrum of insane person-
alities. Kaysen has a troupe of close
friends who idolize her and back her
up in any situation. Georgina (Clea
Duvall) is a compulsive liar (her dec-
laration of this to Susanna is similar
to that of Ally Sheedy's in "The
Breakfast Club"), Daisy (Brittany
Murphy) is high-strung and has an
eating disorder and Polly (Elizabeth
Moss) has a self-inflicted burn on
her face. They are all stereotyped
into flat personalities, riddled with
insecurities and each having a cute,
little quirkiness to them.
Because it would be quite difficult
to convey Kaysen's vivid descrip-
tions of herself in the novel,
Mangold instead conjures a safely-
By Erin Podolsky
Daily Arts Writer
A non-stop chatterbox of a kid who
talks to the camera while being an inad-
vertent prankster. Body hair and cripple
jokes. While "Malcolm in the Middle"
might read at first glance like a typical
episode of "Tom Green," I assure you
it's anything but.
For starters, it's funny.
For finishers, it's funny.
The new half-hour sitcom from Fox
throws over convention for a more
innovative look and feel closer to
"Freaks and Geeks." "Malcolm in the
Middle" shares both an easy realism
and a comedic sensibility with that
show while retaining a style of its own.
It leans toward things that actually hap-
pen as opposed to things that could
never happen but are funny all the
same. There are moments when this can
get to be too much - Malcolm (Frankie
Muniz) directly addresses the audience
Malcolm in
the Middle
Fox
Sundays at 8:30 p.m.
with a commen-
tary strangely
reminiscent in its
self-awareness of,
dare I say it, Zack
Morris. Then
again, maybe
growing up the
third child of four
in a household
where monev is
tight and affec-
tion is tighter
(one of the show's
running gags is
that Mom only
oblivious to their frontal nudity.
Malcolm's mom, Lois (Jane
Kaczmarek), runs the house with equal
parts comedic abuse and love. In an
episode airing in two weeks, she
unleashes punishment after punishment
on her unruly kids, trying to McCarthy
them into admitting which one of them
burned her brand new dress. These
include piping Barney the Dinosaur
songs into their bedroom and forcing
them to run in circles until they're sure
they'll puke. Her husband (Bryan
Cranston) is an ineffectual sort that
defers constantly to Lois.
Mom - and the rest of the clan, as
well - subscribe to the theorv that it's
okay for her to make fun of her kids,
but if anybody else so much as lays an
unkind word on them, they're toast. It's
actually a really nice family ethic, and
the bonds between them are strong
beneath the hijinks.
Bright-eyed cutic-pie Muniz and no-
nonsense Kaczmarek are clearly the
standouts of the show, but the other cast
members do their jobs well. Oldest
brother Francis (Christopher Kennedy
Masterson) is off at military school for
acting up beyond the call of duty. Since
Francis is the only brother he can actu-
ally stomach, Malcolm consider his
exile just another thing in his life that
isn't fair - not to mention a punishment
aimed directly at him, not Francis. This
leaves him with second brother Reese
(Justin Berfield) and younger brother
Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan). Reese likes
to make knuckle sandwiches while
Dewey has flatulence issues. The last of
these is a rather cheap joke that the
show could do without, but that's a
minor complaint.
Sunday's episode will feature a
Krelboyne circus in which all of the
dorky smart kids perform tricks. Stuff
like proving Fermat's Theorem with
posterboard or giant electromagnets
aren't out of the realm of possibility.
Naturally, Malcolm wants to be at the
circus with his family like he wants a
dose of the clap, but being I1-years-old
he currently has to worry more about
the former than the latter. The circus
turns out to be a great fish-out-of-water
exercise, as Malcolm's entire family is
out of their element and can't believe
how weird the other families are.
But it's not that the other families
are weird so much as Malcolm's
family is incredibly normal. They
tussle, they yell, they make fun of
each other. And at the end of the day,
they're still together.
And funny Always funny. And
what good is a sitcom that isn't
funny?
conditions of
curing the
insane. You can-
not condescend
to the insane
because their
minds aren't as focused as the sane.
Nor can you expect that dulling their
hallucinations with shocks or numb-
ing their mental anguishes with med-
ications will cure them.
James Mangold brings some pow-
erful, intense actresses to the screen
in , his adaptation of "Girl,
Interrupted." Winona Ryder, who
plays Susanna, is very appealing to
watch on the screen, portraying a
troubled yet intelligent girl (and her
beauty doesn't hurt, either).
Similarly, Angelina Jolie also draws
construed plot of a troublesome rela-
tionship between the quiet, contem-
plative Susanna and the popular, out-
going Lisa. Susanna has trouble
dealing with Lisa's blatant honesty
and rash actions, but looks up to her
for guidance.
Therefore, Susanna's path towards
redeeming her sanity is pushed into the
backdrop, so that when nurse Valerie
(Whoopi Goldberg) preaches soul-
searching or her psychiatrist (Vanessa
Redgrave) pushes her to find the sani-
ty within her self, Mangold is lamely
A Cappella group Take 6 to close MLK Day
I
By Nick Falzone
Daily Arts Writer
For the past week, the University's
Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium
has demonstrated the many ways in
which the late Reverend's famous
dream is being pursued currently. On
Monday, to continue this demonstra-
tion, Take 6, the world-renowned a
cappella musical group, will be mak-
ing their University Musical Society
Take 6
Hill Auditorium
Monday at 8 p.m.
debut in Ann
Arbor,
The group,
which special-
izes in gospel,
R&B and vocal
jazz, is com-
prised, not sur-
prisingly, of six
members - six
A f r i c a n -
American men
who have been
embraced
wholeheartedly
by the music
Courtesy of Columbra Pictures
Winona Ryder and Angela Jolie bond in James Mangold's "Girl, Interrupted."
finding a medium through which
Susanna will be "inspired" by a cure.
Her character, initially intending to be
portrayed as extremely strong (not
stubborn) and intelligent, instead
evolves into one who seems extremely
impressionable and weak.
While most of "Girl, Interrupted"
does not seem to be fashioned after
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,"it
seems to remind us of its counterpart
in that it does not nearly compare to
the latter in terms of its depth, realism
and emotional charge.
°' . ~.
=q. ; ..
s.
,,' ,
x
strong belief in God, a spirituality
that they try to incorporate into their
vocal pieces. Since Martin Luthcr
King Jr. also clearly had a deep inter-
est in religion, UMS Director of
Marketing and Promotion Sara
Billmann said the group's spirituality
was one of the reasons UMS invited
the group to perform durin, this
month's symposium.
"We've been looking at the group
for a while and looking for the right
time to present them," Billmann said.
"We thought that they would be a
great closing for the symposium,
especially since they focus on spiri-
tual and gospel music."
Although Take 6 will be making
their UMS debut this Monday, they
have performed previously in Ann
Arbor at the annual Summer Festival.
Billmann said that their popular
reception at the festival was also a
contributing factor in including the
group in the MLK Symposium.
The group has not decided to
announce its repertoire until they
come on stage Monday night, a prac-
tice that Billmann says is common
for popular musical groups. She
added, though, that she expects some
of the songs the members have
selected will be relevant to King and
his philosophies.
has enough good food for two of her
kids, so the last is stuck with, say, egg
salad) will do that to a kid.
The other easy explanation is that
Malcolm is a genius. No, really. Tested
with an IQ of 165, one of the founda-
tions of "Malcolm in the Middle" is
that poor Malcolm, who just wants to
be a regular kid and not get beat up by
bullies or stomped on by his older
brother, is yanked out of the normal
class and stuck in the Krelboyne trailer,
where all of the gifted kids are exiled to
for easier ridiculing on the playground.
These include wheelchair-bound Stevie
Kanarban (Craig Lamar Traylor), a
breathless paraplegic who, in the
show's greatest moments, knows exact-
ly what cards to play despite his fagade
of naivete.
Back at home, Malcolm - who is
also breathless, due to his penchant for
endlessly run-on sentences thrown pell-
mell at the audience - and his brothers
roughhouse with the best of them and
cope with their parents, who have a
penchant for wandering the house
, A
Courtesy of Reprise Records
Members of Take 6 make their UMS debut at Hill Auditorium as part of MLK Day.
industry ever since their debut in the
late '80s. They have received multi-
ple awards for their vocal work,
including seven Grammys and five
Doves, the top prize in the world of
gospel music.
In addition to garnering some of
the most prestigious accolades in the
world of music, Take 6 has demon-
strated its vocal talent on many
movie soundtracks, such as Spike
Lee's "Do the Right Thing" and
Warren Beatty's "Dick Tracy." They
have also performed and recorded
with a variety of prominent vocalists,
like Quincy Jones, k.d lang and
Stevie Wonder.
Although Take 6 debuted profes-
sionally in 1988, the group traces its
origins to 1980 when five of the
members met each other while per-
forming in a college a cappella group
in Huntsville, Alabama. A sixth
member joined the group soon after
and Take 6 was born.
Besides
the Take+
being skilled musicians,
6 members also have a
- <V~>v~~~.-'..A 4, V