-9 The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 8. 199 Mimes interpret iversity tn'Cty' By Jeremy Salvatori For the Daily Something different flies into town this weekend that will change the pace from the typical movie or party. The San Francisco Mime Troupe performs in "City For Sale." This is not your standard pan- tomime show featuring paint- ed clowns on the street silently City For pretending Sale they're trapped in a box, but a mime show of a Tonight at 8 different flavor. The San Francisco Mime O #Troupe "mimes" in the traditional sense: "To mimic, or imi- tate." Their show tonight includes a musical score combining samba and rock styles, detailed set designs, ele- rments of comedy and drama, a pow- erful politically and socially-sensi- tive plot line and, keeping consistent Vltheir motto, "larger-than-life" m leractersn. Expect a show of surprises from I Poor direction, weak acting undemine concept of 'Hearts' M Courtesy of David Alen Velina Brown plays the mayor facing the residents' protest in "City For Sale." this Tony Award-winning troupe from the west coast. "City For Sale," written by Joan Holden and daughter Kate Chumley, deals with the tightly-strung housing problem in San Francisco - devel- opers wield their economic power by evicting the low-paying, long-term renters, thus opening up space for newer, upscale "lofts" that can attract the higher bidders. The poor are given the boot as-they strugIle in this unfortunate system into which they are helplessly locked. In "City For Sale," one such woman, Agnes, gets caught in the trap, and she finds herself the victim of a weasily landlord named Ben. This happens when she inquires about a place to rent, and Ben claims its current tenants, a band of musi- cians that make up the Auto Body Shop, are vacating the place. She later discovers, however, that the tenants are still living there and have no intention of moving. What can she do? Will the stubborn San Francisco mayor help her? Will Agnes become yet another victim? "City For Sale" is just one of the many shows this 40-year-old mime troupe have produced in their histo- ry. Their shows focus on expressing minority views, such as race, class, gender, political affiliation and other multicultural themes, in bold fash- ions. "City For Sale" is sponsored by Dialogues on Diversity, a University- wide initiative that provides opportu- nities for the open exchange of views of diversity. The troupe looks to not only enter- tain, but to enrich its audience with diverse viewpoints. Skip the movie and try a new flavor of entertain- ment: Mime. By Erin Podolsky Daily Arts Writer There's almost a great movie inside of "Random Hearts." The high concept pitch is nearly flawless: Two people are thrown together by fate when they discover their respective spouses, both of whom perished in a plane crash, were having an affair before meeting their unfortunate end. That makes it Random all the more sad to see the mess that Hearts Sydney Pollack's ("Tootsie," "The Firm") latest directorial effort At Briarwood, devolves into in the latter two-thirds Qualty 16 of the film. and showcase Dutch Van Den Broeck (Harrison Ford) and Kay Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas) are the cuckolded pair of middle-aged professionals from different class strata. Kay is a rather upper-class congresswoman struggling with reelection woes and a 15-year-old daughter (Kate Mara). Dutch is an internal affairs sergeant with the Washington DC police depart- ment. "Random Hearts" is overly lengthy enough to pay full attention to both the main story between the two characters and their own side stories. In this case, though, that is a major mistake. Not all that interesting to start with after the first act's harrowing revelations, each time the story veers from the already slack main road, energy flows out of the movie like a mountaintop water- fall. Dutch is fueled by confused rage as he tries to find out if his wife was on the ill-fated plane. He visits her place of employment and gets nothing but stonewalling from her coworkers; the airline claims she was not on the flight, but Dutch knows better. Using his detecting skills, lie narrows down the passenger list until he figures out who his wife was with on the plane. Then he approaches Kay and obliquely tells her the truth. That should have been the end of it, but there is something in misery that just loves company, and as we all know perfectly well, in a movie a random meeting such as Kay and Dutch's is never a one-time thing. The two journey to Miami, where their spouses were on their way to. They journey back. They attempt a desul- tory tryst in the car, each for their own miserable reasons, but go no further. Their relationship continues at this bizarrely languid pace until the last reel plays out. The changes are as slow and slight as the Earth's yearly jour- ney around the sun, never veering sharply but shifting nonetheless from warm to cold and back again. The nerves-on-edge hysteria that Pollack builds in the first part of the movie never pays out after the affair is discovered. Instead, we're left with a film that seems to be more about the damage an elephant in the room can cause than an actual live relationship. Kay feels it too, at one point telling Dutch that she doesn't want their rela- tionship to always be about "the four of us" rather than the two remaining players. But Dutch is too far gone; he loves his wife too much and he cannot heal fast enough. Ford and Scott Thomas do far from their best work here, although Ford is better off than his British counter- part. Playing an American, Scott Thomas is in dire need of a better dialogue coach. Ford, meanwhile, does his usual emotionally remote acting job, although he does warm up in places to the point where it looks like there might actually be some tortured-yet-hot blood pumping through his veins. Scott Thomas never gets to that place. Charles S. Dutton, Dylan Baker, Bonnie Hunt, Sydney Pollack himself and a few others play smaller roles, but there is nary a moment when either Ford or Scott Thomas is not on the screen. There are similarities between "Random Hearts" and Peter Weir's superior post-plane crash human trauma exploration "Fearless" that are impossible to ignore. Perhaps Pollack and Weir should have gone out for cof- fee to discuss emotional distress and how to properly film it. The very human need for others, for co-sufferers in times of despair and gloom in the wake of tragedy, is an aspect of all of us that is worth taking a look at. But there are ways to do it without causing boredom, or forced- ness. "Random Hearts" is a lesson in how to craft a clunky, essentially uninteresting romance that could have been a powerful psychological investigation into human reaction. Good and evil fight WWF-style in new comedy-thriller 'GvsE' Read the Daily. eDaily The forces of good surely prevail tonight on USA's latest cries, "GvsE," from indie filmmakers Josh and Jonas Pate. hey are joined by fellow executive producer Paul Biddle nd bring a new spin on the "God cares" theme. "Touched y an Angel" this is not. Chandler Smythe (Clayton Rohner) and Henry McNeil Richard Brooks) are at the front of this comedy-thriller as two operatives within the Corps, a dis- crete agency headed by the Almighty himself. Agents of the Corps are mor- tals who are reborn for the fight GvsE between good and evil. Not exactly being beacons of godliness in their for- mer lives, operatives are thus allowed USA the chance to redeem themselves Sunday at 8 through the saving of souls and the slaying of Morlocks. The show is set in a splendid town wallowing with soul- less ones, Hollywood. Chandler, the skeptical agent, is slowly coming to terms with his new day-job and sparkles with wry humor. His recent contacts with his son Ben Tony Denman), though officially forbidden, provide a limpse of Chandler's former life as a regular dad. Henry, e laid-back veteran, still manages to get ecstatic on meet- g his favorite movie star and even lucky (yet another od-frowned upon act), but can be counted on to back up is partner. Morlocks are two-horned individuals who have sold their uls to the devil. Sarcasm and an air of general malevo- rice are musts for these characters. Morlocks lure mortals tilgning the standard Faustian contract, showering them with their hearts' greatest desires. All for the mere price of eternal damnation. It falls on our two reluctant heroes to persuade the luck- less fools to renounce their deals and come up to the land of the shining once again. If their tactics, some of which include the use of cattle prods and in one case the behead- ing of Barbie dolls, fail to convince the Faustians, well, the boys are not adverse to "relieving them of life." This week's episode has the two entering the wide world of wrestling and poses the threat of the WWF being cor- rupted by the ranks of the Morlocks. Enter WWF-hopeful Testicules, an average dim-witted chump who just happens to be consorting with a minion of Satan. Said Morlock in question is Howard Deline, a former wig-donning B-list wrestler who after losing his last match, vows to avenge himself. He guides Testicules' ascent into the WWF, chid- ingTesticules for his bad table manners and furnishing him with his finishing move, "The Hernia." The Morlock's darker motives become apparent when the Corps agents uncover the blueprints of a bomb. What to do in the face of such evil? Chandler and Henry do a little recruiting of their own in the form of WWF champion Mankind. Added to the fray are a Don King pro- moter and the special wrestling debut of Chandler-san. At the end of the episode, Mankind offers some more lessons on what it means to be a wrestler, exclaiming, in reference to his torn ear, "I am a man! I am stupid enough to get in situations where I lose parts of my body!" The trumpeting, pulsating soundtrack gives a rousing backdrop to this retro-feel show. Split-screen camera shots allow for simultaneous action and a diverse selec- tion of viewpoints. The dialogue is wickedly sharp, and the characters spring into action. A masterful show, "GvsE" is fighting the good fight and doing a little hell raising of its own. The University of Michigan SCHOOL OF MUSIC p PJ'S RECORDS & USED CDS THEATRE AND DRAMA 617 Packard Upstairs from Subway Paying $4 to $6 for top CD's in top condition. Also buying premium LP's and cassettes. Open 7 days 663-3441 The selection is ENDLESS October 7th, 8th, & 9th, 8:00p; October 10th, 2:00pm Trueblood Theatre (Tickets $14: call 764-0450) Escape From Happiness LECTURE/DEMONSTRATION TRICHY SANKARA, CARNATIC PERCUSSIONIST 8 Fri, Oct 1999 Rackham Auditorium, 7:00pm Trichy Sankara, a professor at York University in Ontario, Canada will be demonstrating the Mridangam and Kanjira and giving a per- formance of jazz-influenced Indian music. FACULTY RECITAL: ANTHONY ELLIOT, CELLO Friday, October 8 Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 8:00pm - Bach: Suite #6 in D major'" Cassabo: Suite for solo cello - Kodaly: Sonata for Unaccompanied cello SYMPHONY BAND Friday, October 8 Hill Auditorium, 8:00pm H. Robert Reynolds, Conductor " Barber: Commando March - Schuman: George Washington Bridge " Schoenberg: Theme and Variations Shostakovich's Festive Overture *Larson: Liten Marsch " Hoist: Second Suite in F 39th ANNUAL ORGAN CONFERENCE (OCT. 10-13)I } . .. . ._.vs .mar v a .ia as " v y:a a +M#!!h#M:A' Va.. i i/ V .a f .i l sue. I A IA I 6 Telluride House Ann Arbor, Michigan Room & Board Scholarship Intellectual Challenge Self-Government Public Service Informational Meeting October 10, 3 p.m. Hussey Room, Michigan League refreshments sered Sunday, October 10 Hill Auditorium, 8:00pm Delbert Disselhorst, organ performing works by Bach, Messiaen and Dupre Monday, October 11 Burton Memorial Tower (beside Hill Auditorium), 7:30pm Margo Halsted, carillon performing works by Bach, Vaughan and & Balkom Hill Auditorium, 8:00pm Music of Michigan Composers Performers: Michael Gould, David Hufford, Michele Johns, James Kibbie, Marilyn Mason, & Joyce Schroeder Tuesday, October 12 First Congregational Church, 4:00pm Tim Berlew and Larry Shou, organ performing works by Bach, Schumann, and Rheinberger Hill Auditorium, 8:00pm Tong-Soon Kwak, organist performing works by Tournemire, Vierne and Franck Wednesday, October 13 Hill Auditorium, 2:30pm Huw Lewis and Anita Werling, organ performing works by Bach, Brahms, & Liszt Burton Memorial Tower (beside Hill Auditorium), 7:30pm Jeremy Chesman, carillon performing works by Scarlatti, Miller & Johnson Hill Auditorium, 8:00pm William Osborne, organ performing works by Hollins, Parker, Foote, & Guilmant VOCAL ARTS LAB Monday, October 11 Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 6:30pm Students from all degree programs (BA, MM, DMA) sing for their peers. The public is invited to listen. GUEST MASTERCLASS: TOM RICCOBONO Tuesday, October 12 Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 6:30pm Tom Riccobono, professor of low brass at the Interlochen Academy will present a short recital followed by a trombone master class. Open and free to the public.