Demi Moore...bald!
Check out "(.I. Jane," playing tonight at
the North Campus Chrysler Center
Auditorium as part of the Martin Luther
King Jr. film series. Free.

fiRdftm Daug
iiLIRTS


t

TUESDAY
JANUARY 16, 2001 8A

michigandaily.com /arts


Groundbreaking 'Tiger' a
martial arts masterpiece

Coens'' 0Brother' an
artistic Odyssey homage

09

By Andy Taylor-Fabe
Daily Arts Writer

It's a unique feeling to want to get
up and cheer for the hero while simul-
taneously wanting to sit in awe and not
move a muscle for fear that you would

miss a single
Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon
Grade: A+
At Showcase,
The Michigan Theater
and Quaity 16
Mu Bai (Chow
warrior who has

frame. However,
"Cro u c h i n g
Tiger, Hidden
Dragon" gives
the viewer that
and more. With
both Chow Yun-
Fat and Michelle
Yeoh giving
exceptional per-
formances, this
film is truly
deserving of the
term master-
piece.
Taking place
in the 19th
Century, the
story involves Li
Yun-Fat), a Wudan
given up the life of

of Yu Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai (who
have almost legendary status among
the people - think Jedi Knights), and
she begins to question the life of inac-
tivity and subservience that has been
planned for her. Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu
Lien must now deal with the quest to
recapture The Green Destiny and the
renewed search for Jade Fox (who
appears to be connected with the theft
and also has a new and lethal appren-
tice). In addition, there is the long but
unconsummated relationship between
Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien, which is
one of the most subtle but enthralling
on-screen relationships in recent film
history.
Chow Yun-Fat is incredible in this
film. Li Mu Bai is noble, strong,
graceful and contemplative; he is the
pinnacle of virtue ... also, he really
kicks some ass. While fighting with
one hand literally behind his back,
each move is cool and calculated, but
he is able to give so much emotion to
the role as well. Every look on his face
is so expressive, and the mix of humor
and sadness in his eves is sometimes
almost painful to watch.
Michelle Yeoh is also phenomenal
as both a powerful warrior and a wise
friend. Her multi-weapon battle near
the end is one the most intense scenes
in the film, and like Chow Yun-Fat,
she is able to bring her character far
beyond a mere fighter.
The scenery and backgrounds in the
film are magnificent, full of mist-
filled valleys and mountains as well as
barren but beautiful desert landscapes.
Every scene has a dreamlike quality to
it, and the vibrant, mystical colors that
fill the screen consume you complete-

By Lyle Henretty
1161y Film Editor
When one sees that Steven
Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino is
directing a film, one can assume
certain things about the plot or

direction the film
Where Art Thou? 1
Grade: B ;
At Showcase ;
and Quality 161
f

will probably
take. The most
wonderful
thing about the
talented, illu-
sive Coen
brothers is that
their films
always have
something new
to bring to the
table. It's hard
to believe that
the same film-
makers behind
the intense
"M i I I e r ' s

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Cassics
Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi) shows a few nogoodniks the meaning of pain in Ang Lee's
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

the sword despite his vow to avenge
his master, who died at the hands of
the mysterious and feared Jade Fox. Li
Mu Bai has entrusted his sword, The
Green Destiny, to a friend as a symbol
of his departure from his quest for
vengeance. When the sword is stolen,
Li Mu Bai's close companion, Yu Shu
Lien (Michelle Yeoh), tries to figure
out what has happened, and she subse-
quently comes into contact with Jen
Yu (Zhang Ziyi), the sheltered and
soon to be married daughter of a local
governor.
Jen is fascinated with the lifestyle

ly as you are drawn into their world.
Fight scenes in this film take on a
whole new quality in their disregard for
gravity. Much of the fighting involves.
characters leaping across buildings,
bouncing off the surface of water or
soaring into the air either to attack or
retreat. What is really impressive is that
the majority of these acrobatics are
actually done by the actors (with the
help of safety wires, of course). When
they are on the ground, the battles are
fast, vicious and complex, and they are
all accompanied by a rapid and heart-
pounding drum beat that complements
the combat perfectly.
The fight sequences were choreo-
graphed by Yuen Wo-Ping, who is best

known in America for his work on
"The Matrix," and there are definitely
shades of that same style in this film.
However, the fight scenes in
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
have a more magical, or fairy-tale qual-
ity to them, and you should be prepared
to completely surrender your notions of
physics and reality in order to com-
pletely enjoy the supernatural qualities
of the film.
In fact, try to see the film when the
audience is sparse, because otherwise,
you will be bombarded with cries of
"oh, that looks really realistic" from
every snickering, confused jackass in
the crowd ... not that I'm bitter or any-
thing.

ABC takes a crack at reality television with
cheap 'Survivor' knock-off 'The Mole'

Crossing" also helmed the classic
screwball comedy "Raising
Arizona." In a year when tired gen-
res continually reared their ugly
heads (dull action movies with
Schwarzenegger and Stallone,
romantic comedies with teen heart
throbs) it is absolutely refreshing to
see a movie that attempts and suc-
ceeds in doing something different.
This is taking into account the fact
that the Coens claim their source
material to be nearly 3,000 years
old.
"O Brother, Where Art Thou" is
said to be a re-working of Homer's
"The Odyssey" in the deep South
during the Great Depression. The
Coens admit, though, that they have
never actually read the epic poem.
Instead they pepper their film with
vignettes and illusions to the, most
famous aspects of the story, including
the Cyclops, The Sirens and a dis-
guised Ulysses showing off his
immense talents.
The film cleverly mixes the
Homeric with a few American Tall
Tales (a blues singer selling his soul
for the ability to play the guitar) and
a couple of truly American carica-
tures (Huey P. Long, "Babyface"
Nelson). "O Brother" contains some
of the most entertaining and beauti-
fully realized vignettes put on film in
years, as well as some of the most
lush settings and vibrant characters.
Despite all that it has going for it,
the film just does not come together.
It struggles for cohesion by giving the
main character, Ulysses Everett

McGill (George Clooney), a back-
story in the third act that doesn't quite
fit, and begins several story lines that
never really get resolved. The story
centers on three convicts who escape
a chain gang in order to find buried
treasure. McGill enlists the help of
the gruff, suspicious Pete (John
Tuturro) and the not-playing-with-
even-half-a-deck Delmar (Tim Blake
Nelson), basically because they are
attached to him, but an uneasy friend-
ship quickly develops. This is the
jumping board as they take their own
Odyssey through the South.
. The acting is first rate, with
Clooney giving his best performance
ever. Even in his best films, it is near-
ly impossible to get lost in his char-
acterizations, forgetting that you are
watching George Clooney. Here,
though, Clooney seems to be chan-
neling the ghost of Clark Gable (or at
least Clark Gable doing an impres-
sion of Burt Reynolds) and shows an
impeccable sense of comic timing.
Tuturro, always the chameleon, is all
indignation as Pete, always assuming
he's getting screwed, but never quite
sure how. Nelson's Delmar is the
weakest of the three, but his character
is also the most shallow. He is simply
dumb, though often becomes the butt
of some very funny jokes.
One cannot discuss this film,
though, without commenting on the
stellar soundtrack. The pulsing blue-
grass is beautiful to listen to, and
infuses the film with a sense of time
and place. As long as the music is
playing, the plot-holes can almost be
forgiven. Almost. The artistic high-
point, musically, is when the trio
encounters a group of sexy "sirens"
washing clothes and singing country
classic "Didn't Leave Nobody But
the Baby" (sung in a seductively
haunting manner by Alison Krauss,
Emmvlou Harris and Gillian Welch).
This scene is mesmerizing, as the
audience feels just as drawn to the
sexy trio of singers as the convicts, or
as Ulysses himself may have. Many
scenes in "0 Brother" have equal
power to entice and enamor, but the
film as a whole is not as tight as it
should be.
Probably the film's greatest liabili-
ty is that it is, in fact, a Coen brother's
film. Because of this simple fact, it is
held to a higher standard than most.
The Coens have spoiled their audi-
ences with excellence, so when one
of their movies fall slightly short, it is
all the more depressing.

0*

By Matt Manser
Daily Arts Writer

The mole will lie to your face. The mole will sabo-
tage your plans. "The Mole" will put you to sleep.
Using a radical new program-
ming strategy, ABC has come out
with "The Mole," which attempts.
The Mole to capitalize on the reality show
craze that began with last summer's
ABC "Survivor." It's a strategy that's just
Tonight at 8 crazy enough to work, considering
the mega-success of the "Malcolm
in the Middle" clone "Tucker" and
the "Who Wants to be a
Millionaire" clone "Greed."
Without any further sarcasm,
here is the premise of "The Mole." Gather up ten
strangers (five men, five women), and send them on a

28-day journey across 15,000 miles, four countries and
two continents. Along the way, the group will have to
perform several tests. With each passed test, prize
money is added to a pot that will go to the winner at the
end of the last show. If every test is passed, the pot
would grow to Dr. Evil's magic number, one million
dollars..
Here's the twist: One of the ten is not really a con-
testant. He or she is actually "the mole." The first show
began with a definition of a mole. "Mole: noun, a spy
(a double agent) who establishes a cover long before
beginning espionage." Fox had to do the same thing for
"Temptation Island," defining temptation at the begin-
ning of the show, which goes to show that both ABC
and Fox know their audience.
The mole works for the show and tries to keep the
group from passing the tests in order to keep money out
of the pot. The other nine contestants, as well as the
viewer, have to figure out who exactly is the mole. At


the end of each episode the contestants must take a quiz
about the mole, with questions such as, "Is the mole a
man or a woman?"
The contestant who does the worst on the quiz gets
"executed." No, it's not what you think. This is an ABC
show, not Fox. The executed contestant just has to leave
the show. One contestant gets executed each week until
the mole is revealed and the winner is declared.
The first show introduced the ten contestants. There's
helicopter pilot Jim, mcd school student Afi, undercov-
er cop Steven, retired detective Charlie, visual display
artist Wendi, single father Manuel, former peace corps
volunteer Kate, law school lecturer Kathryn, former
snowboarding champion Jennifer and bartender Henry.
But don't worry if you forget who's who, because
handy graphics pop up on the screen to remind the
viewer of each contestant's name and their only impor-
tant characteristic (such as "Manuel, the Single Father,"
or "Jennifer, the Jock"). There's also a host, Anderson
Cooper, who stands around and does host stuff.
There were two group tests on the first episode. The
first test required everyone in the group to skydive from
10,000 feet, which was worth S75,000. Some artificial
tension was created (Manuel is nervous!), but they all
jumped. Next was a complicated test involving the deci-
phering of a secret code and finding an ATM machine
in France. They passed this test too, so the mole was not
very successful.
The show concluded with the group, taking the
mole quiz, with everyone revealing their suspicions.
Manuel wound up getting the most wrong on the
quiz and was executed. This was followed by a heart-
warming montage in tribute to the departed single
father, because like other reality shows, "The Mole"
thinks we should have deep feelings about someone
because he was on TV for an hour. All in all "The
Mole" is not a horrible show, but it lacks the origi-
nality of "Survivor" and the pure concentrated evil of
"Temptation Island."

0

Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures
Pete (John Turturro), Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) and Everett (George Clooney) run
from the law and seek their fortunes in "0 Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Courtesy of ABC

Who Is The Mole?lI t ain't this guy.
'NYPD Blue' deserves

'Urge' may leave readers overwhelmed

o bow out
Katie Den Bleyker
Daily Arts Writer
The critically lauded show, "NYPD
Blue" is back on ABC for another sea-
son. In the past, NYPD Blue has won
several Emmy awards. Now, however,
the show's January debut filling the cur-
rent Emmy-winning show "Once and
Again's" time slot
suggests that ABC
is growing tired of
NYPD its former critically
Blue lauded hit. In the
rU n or-.r ncnn

gracefully
now dealing with over-dramatic prob-
lems. Detective Sipowicz is dealing with
his young son possibly having leukemia
(this while fighting charges of corrup-
tion along with the other members of his
team). Sorenson is trying to get into
Diane Russell's pants. The whole squad
is abducted by the evil twin of an ex-
officer and taken to a desert island. Well,
that last part is made up, but the scenario
isn't much more outlandish than some of
the show's recent plots.
This is not the same Emmy-winning
writing that NYPD Blue has been
Unt-r fnrinth .act .h. chw urns

By Lisa Rajt
Daily Books Editor
I simply don't know what to think. This is not good:
One of the main responsibilities of a book reviewer is to
offer opinions. But, bewildered and befuddled, I am men-
tally speechless. Should one laugh at this book? Cry?
Grimace? The verdict is not yet in.
The plot is simple in this 100-page novel, written by

issues. Although the reader should probably assume that
the two problems are related, Pulido could have spent a
bit more time developing that idea.
Over time, Anthony free-associates, rants, raves and
loses his mind entirely on several occasions. He yells and
cries copiously. In his interactions with others, namely
his family, professors and classmates, he is occasionally
violent and frequently confused.
The one constant of this novel until the last chapter is
that Anthony denies his feelings of attraction toward
other men, focusing on his relationship with a female as
a means of distraction.
This narrative voice was billed as being "unforget-
table," and it was certainly that. Pulido has a definite
knack for description. Indeed, all was not lost in this lit-
tle book, as it was highly imaginative and sometimes
even humorous.
If the coal of anv novel is to-show change within the

Unspeakable
Urge
Moises Pulido
Grade: C

University alum Moises Pulido: A
first-year University of Michigan
student is grappling with his bisexu-
ality, while also dealing with a
homophobic upbringing and the
demands of college life. "Sounds
pretty straightforward ... what's the
big deal?" you may be saying to
vonrelf Read on.

Courtesy of ABC
Even Sipowicz can't hide his attraction

I

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