6F- The chigan Daily-- Football relay - October 2, I.90
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0#er 2, 1999 - Fo
Without sense of timing,
'Illuminata' bores
Patmon makes himself at home at
By Ed Sholinsky
Daily h'imlnEditor
One thing that can make a
Hollywood blockbuster like "Lethal
Weapon 4" infinitely more watch-
able than a high brow art film is pac-
ing. Sitting through a work that
plods along - though it may be
infused with deep meaning - is
going to be painful, no matter how
much you get out of the film.
Now imagine that the movie
you're sitting through that is badly
paced has nothing really going on
and is just one lame joke after anoth-
er. This is
"Illuminata.
Iluminati
At Michigan Theat
Screening Roo
the torture that is
Set against
the backdrop of
turn of the cen-
tury New York,
a"'Al uminata" is
the story of
* Tuccio (produc-
er, co-writer,
er director John
m Turturro), a
playwright who
is battling the
theater owner,
A(sB e vr l u yi
D'Angelo),rwho
ys, but doesn't want to
with him.
Astergourd decides to pull the
play, which Tuccio (illogically) sees
as a betrayal not only by Astergourd
but by Rachel as well.
Broken, Tuccio goes off in search
of Celimene (Susan Sarandon), a
famous 'actress who loves his work
and wants to sleep with him, so the
two can work on a new play.
Not only is "Illuminata" bogged
down with an overly large ensemble,
but the story seems to go nowhere
except to the predictable.
What is seems to be about is less
the staging of a play and more about
how you can keep kicking a woman
and she'll still come back to you,
and that homosexuals are only out
for sex.
The film is further damaged by its
multiple personalities. At times it
can't decide if it's a screwball physi-
cal comedy or if it's a serious come-j
dy.
Then there is the problem that
there are times when the film's dia-
logue is inflated like the dialogue of
the stage, but then there are times
when it's more colloquial. But there
seems to be no rhyme or reason for
the alternation.
Mostly, though, "Illuminata" is
just boring. It moves at a snail's
pace, so that it's easy to overlook the
good qualities of the film. Instead,
you'll be lulled to sleep like you
were a baby and the film was your
lullaby.
But there are a couple of things of
note in the film, that almost make it
watchable.
The art direction and cinematog-
raphy are, at times, stunning. There
is a great deal of beauty in the play
that is staged within the film. This is
t'*
: x.1
.
By Josh Kleinbaum
Daily Sports Editor
They sat in the waiting room of a
San Diego high school like trouble-
makers waiting to see the principal.
After a moment of awkward silence,
Lloyd Carr turned to the man sitting
next to him.
"Where do you' want DeWayne to
go?" the Michigan football coach
asked.
"Honestly, deep down, I want him
to go to Texas," Chuck Patmon
replied.
The coach paused, then smiled.
"I hope," said Carr, "he doesn't lis-
ten to you."
DeWayne Patmon didn't listen to
his dad. He didn't listen when his dad,
and everyone else with vocal cords,
told him that he wouldn't start in the
defensive backfield at Michigan -
Texas is where to go to get some play-
ing time. He didn't listen to Ricky
Williams, his old high-school team-
mate, who was on the way to becom-
ing college football's all-time leading
rusher at Texas, who told him they
could be together again. He didn't lis-
ten to that third faction, either, the one
from South Bend - the one that told
him he could play in the shadow of
Touchdown Jesus.
Instead, he listened to his heart. For
Patmon, who grew up with a
Michigan hat on his head and a maize-
and-blue T-shirt on his back, that heart
said Ann Arbor.
But it shouldn't have surprised any-
one. If people said he wouldn't get
playing time at Michigan, that's where
Patmon would most likely want to go.
When he drives to the airport, he
purposely waits as long as he can, cut-
ting the flight as close as he can.
"It's like a challenge," Chuck
Patmon said from San Diego. "It dri-
ves me crazy."
For DeWayne, college was just
another airport, cracking Michigan's
starting lineup just another challenge.
Now in his third Michigan season,
now an emerging force at free safety
on the country's fourth-ranked team,
the soft-spoken Patmon knows he
made the right decision.
"Michigan had more to offer all
around, and I'm very happy with the
decision I made," Patmon said.
But what he doesn't say in words,
he says in his demeanor - a large
smile covers his face, arms relaxed by
his side, Patmon was more at home
than the Old Lady in her shoe.
Standing at just six-feet tall, 181
pounds, Patmon doesn't fit the big,
bruising football player mold. You
wouldn't think he could hit like a
Mack truck. You'd think he'd hit more
like Betty Rubble.
You'd be wrong.
Growing up the youngest of six
kids, including two brothers who were
young enough for him to play with,
Patmon quickly learned his place
as the little one, he was quiet and did
as he was told.
"He had two older brothers that sat
on him when he mouthed off," said
Daryl Dotson, a defensive backs
coach at Patrick Henry who coached
Chad, Daryl and DeWayne Patmon.
But it was that same environment,
having two older brothers who would
sit on him, that toughened Patmon up
and turned him into the bruising hitter
that he is today.
"They always played tough and
rough," Chuck Patmon said. "They
made him tough."
As a sophomore at Patrick Henry
High School, DeWayne broke into the
I
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starting lineup, playing free safety
alongside his brother, Chad, the strong
safety.
"Everyone thought Chad was the
great player, because he was such a
big talker," Dotson said. "But at the
end of the year, everyone ended up
talking about DeWayne. His play talks
for itself."
His play has been more of a whisper
at Michigan - at least as far as public
attention goes - although it probably
should be a roar. These stats speak
pretty loudly:
® In his 15 career starts at
Michigan, the Wolverines are 15-0.
Last season, he moved into the starting
lineup after Marcus Ray was suspend-
ed for accepting gifts from an agent.
He started 10 games; Michigan won
all 10. Ray, a Columbus nati.ve, started
his last regular-season game at
Michigan, a 33-16 loss at Ohio State.
Patmon started one game as a fresh-
man, a Michigan victory, before miss-
ing the last three games of the season
with a broken leg.
* Last season, Patmon tied for the
team lead in interceptions, grabbing
four, and was second in pass breakups
with four.
He already has two picks this
year, leading the Wolverines, and one
tackle for loss in just four games this
season.
Patmon will have to be plenty loud
today against Purdue. With stud quar-
terback Drew Brees throwing to five
wide receivers spread all over the
field, Patmon and the rest of the
Michigan secondary will have a busy
day.
"Two weeks couldn't fully prepare
us for this offense," Patmon said. "Our
mindset is that we are going to have to
change gears and learn things quick-
ly."
The Michigan defense had just one
week, and that will have to be enough
time to learn things.
Purdue has speedy receivers, but
thanks to his high school buddy,
Patmon has some experience tackling
speedy guys.
Before he had a Heisman Trophy on
his resume, before he appeared on the
cover of a magazine in a wedding
dress, before he rewrote the NCAA
rushing record book, Ricky Williams
was the star senior at Patrick Henry,
where Patmon was a sophomore safe-
ty.
DeWayne Patmon (15) makes a
Dame as Cato June (2) looks on
stages his play
put on his most recent play because
she thinks it lacks an ending.
But Tuccio plays a fast one and
with the help of his lover, Rachel
(Turturro's talentless wife Katherine
Borowitz), who is also the manager
of the acting troupe, is able to stage
his play "illuminata."
The play flops with Bevalaqua
(Christopher Walken), the "maca-
roni queen," drama critic who prais-
es young actors so that they'll sleep
The cast of "Illuminata" hits a high note in this otherwise dry film.
complemented by the puppet show
that Turturro intercuts with the
action of the film. The puppets'
movements and the backdrops are
incredible, making you wish that
this type of ingenuity was used to
tell the story.
Along with this, two actors really
stand out from the rather bland pack.
In a very, very small role Ben
Gazzara bring enormous vitality to
the story. Playing the aging, senile
actor father of Rachel, Old Flavio,
Gazzara plays up every line and
makes most of the physical comedy
funnier than it should be.
In a much larger role, Walken is
terrific.
He prances around the film and
has so much fun with the role that
his excitement is contagious. If even
half the actors brought the energy to
their roles that Walken brought to
his, then "Illuminata" would have
been salvageable.
Instead, a cast of talented actors
and actres2& seemingly phone in
their performances, even Turturro,
Courtesy of Artisan Entertainment
despite the fact that "Illuminata" is
his baby. The usually reliable
D'Angleo and Sarandon seem lost,
as though they were doing Turturro a
favor by being in his movie, but
weren't really willing to work that
hard.
Without a really original concept,
without a sense of comic timing and
pacing and without any idea of how
to keep the audience awake,
"Illuminata" is sure to bore to the
point where any good that comes out
of it will seem like a hazy dream.
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Which meant every day in practice,
Patmon got a first-hand look at one of
the best backs in the game.
"I think that's why I hit pretty hard,"
Patmon said. "I had to tackle a big guy
like him."
Having to tackle a player like
Williams in high school helped pre-
pare Patmon for top-notch college
players Containing Brees and Purdue's
spread offense isn't going to be easy,
and the Wolverines can use all the
help they can get.
While Brees may be able to throw
faster than the Concorde, for Patmon,
DANA LINNANE / Daly stopping him is just the airport all over
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Free safety DeWayne Patmon, right, and linebacker Ian Gold, left,
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