Slim Cessna's Auto Club Will the real Slim Cessna please stand up? These high-energy alt-country preachers will hit East Quad's Halfway Inn on Sunday night. Yeeeeec-haw! michigandaily. com/arts FRIDAY JANUARY 12, 2001 " 'State and Main' cast accents film's appeal 'Save'mixes it up in life and on the dance floor By Wilhelmina Mauritz Daily Arts Writer By Lyle Henretty Daily Film Editor David Mamet's "State and Main" shows that the prolific writer, and sometimes director, is just as skilled at light satire as he is at cap- State and Main Grade: A At The Michigan Theater and Quality 16 tWring the dark intensity of "G I e n g a r r y Glen Ross" or the complex paranoia of "The Spanish Prisoner." This film is an actor's feast, and the ensem- ble cast shines in their pitch- perfect roles. M a m e t ' s amazing dia- is being held hostage, the scriptwriter (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) must come up with a new way to rework the story. Mvacy and his balls-of-brass producer (David Paymer) try to stay on the mayor's (Charles Durning) good side while dealing with their leading lady's (Sarah Jessica Parker) refusal to do an important nude scene. Other perils come in the form of a young Lolita (Julia Stiles) with an eye for Baldwin, and the-blowhard attorney (Clark Gregg) who tries to shut down the movie because Hoffman stole away his fiancee (Rebecca Pidgeon). The characters and stories con- nect perfectly, and the whole film has the feel of the old-fashioned Hollywood story that it is satiri'z- ing. There is a wild logical jump or two, and Pidgeon's odd reading of Mamet's dialogue (she speaks the "uhs" and "ums" as if they were written on the page, which they probably were), but these elements simply give the film more charac- ter. The story, which could easily have seemed too busy, comes across as hectic and full, yet enjoy- able to watch. Macy's arrogant, snide perfor- mance is miles from his career- making turn in "Fargo." He does not seem like the same man playing a different role, but an entirely dif- ferent person. "State and Main" also marks Alec Baldwin's best work since, Save the Last Dance Grade: B+ At Showcase and Quality 16 "Save the Last Dance" is not simply a movie about dancing. It's about what dancing means and how it correlates to life. lip-hop and ballet are the two forms of dancing that are seen in this film. Both are very different types of dance and both mean differ- ent things to the star of the movie, Sara Johnson, played by Julia Stiles. At the start of the movie we find Sara on a train. A fellow passenger. noticing Sara's ballet magazine, asks if she dances. logue flows organically from the actor's mouths and rings pitch per- fect nearly every time. The film juggles as many charac- ters as a Dickens' novel, and sati- 0 rizes both Hollywood and small- town life while being a love letter to both. The story begins with a film director (William H. Macy) invad- ing a small town in order to contin- ue shooting "The Old Mill." Production was interrupted in the originally intended town because of the star's (Alec Baldwin) enjoy- ement of underage women. Since the old mill that they built Covtesy o' F I e Li.. "Hey, you want a fresh one?" Director David Mamet threatens to slap that sassy grin off of Alec Baldwin's face (again) during the production of "State and Main." well, "Glengarrv Glen Ross." his disreputable actor is just enough self-mockery * to be fuinnv, vet restrained enough to avoid com- plete parody. hoffman is as fine as ever, and Pavmer is laugh-out-loud funny as a film producer not afraid to kick some ass (literally as well as fiuu- rativelv). It is, as usual, the situations and Mbamet's dialogue that are the stars of "State and Main." There is as much characterization in each sen- tence of "State and Main' as there is in most mainstream Hollywood movies cmnbined. This film is fun to watch because it showcases a highly talented groupof artists doing what they do best, it is unashamedly fun and wholesome, even when it deals with statutory rape and extortion. That, methinks, is a neat trick. With a hint of annoyance she replies quite simply, "I used to." At this point the movie flashes back to the day of Sara's audition for the famous dance school Julliard. That same day her mother dies in a car crash while trving to make it in time to see her daughter dance. After the loss of her mother and the almost inevitable failure of her audition, Sara moves to Chicago to live with her wayward father in the midst of an urban ghetto. She starts attending a school where she is the minority student but quickly makes a few fiends. The most significant being a single mother named Chenille and her brother, Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), a star student on his way to medical school who teaches Sara the ropes of her new world. Sara soon realizes that not much from her past life applies to her new one. This is evident through the comparison of hip-hop dancing and ballet. lip-hop beinga big part of her new friends' lives, Sara discovers that as good as she is at ballet, she doesn't know the first thing about dancing hip-hop. There is a great scene where Derek takes Sara out on the dance floor and tries to dance with her. Sara studies Derek and those around her to try ind pick up the moves. Eventually she pr'cks them up but something is obviusly missing because she still looks ridicp- Ious. Unlike ballet, hip-hop isn't. all about rules and exact positioning. There are no rules in hip-hop. Like life, (11h hip-hop you just need to let the music take you and go with the flow. Besides dancing, another focus 1 of "Save the Last Dance" is the relationship between Sara and Derek. Their relathon- ship is unique genre because it is interra- cial. What can be a somewhat torkc y subject to some people is handled,, I think, beautifully in this movie. Ilie many different aspects of interrei'al relationships are dealt with in this film. Sara and Derek are the neutral char,4- ters that simply look at their relationslhip as normal because they know they' i e each other and enjoy each other's iEk- pany. They don't see it as an issue of.-kin color but an issue of the heart. It is the people around them that create the pro>- lems and cause the inevitable conflicis' "Save the Last Dance" does fallixno the common trap of many movies ained at young adults in that it was somie hat predictable at times although this wIS not unbearable. It is unusual to find totally original movies these days-. when you find one that is so totaily enjoyable it is hard to complain. And hey, if nothing else, you get some mighty fun dance scenes. The one at the ed almost blew me away. I heard someone comment about wanting to get some dance lessons to learn some of the awe- some moves she had seen that night' s we were all filing out of the movie. All, I could think of was, "where do I sign ups ?.." Stunning, highly recognize d Quartet returns for ravishing By Jee Chang ** Daily Arts Writer : ' Be prepared to be stunned once again by the Vermeer Quartet, now returning to Ann Arbor's University Musical Society's chamber Arts series Vermeer Quartet Rackham Auditorium Jan. 13, 2001 for its second performance. The performance will be held in the Rackham Auditorium, Saturday, January 13. at 8 p.m. The repoitoire for the evening will include works of Hayden, Shostoakovich, Tchaikovsky, and Mendelssohn. There will also be a lecture held prior to the performance by Inna Naroditskaya . of Northwestern University. The Vermeer Quartet has been praised for its expressiveness and vitality as a team effort, Vermeer performance ented musicians united to form the Vermeer Quartet in 1969 at Marllboro, and since then, have flourished. The quartet has already per- formed at virtually the most highly recognized festivals such as Tanglewood, Aspen. Alldeburgh, South Bank and many more. They have traveled and performed in major cities in the United States and have also toured extensively in Europe. This quartet is also known for its vide variety il repertoire. They not only perform the standard classics, but also explore less familiar composi- tions as well as many 20th century pieces that were specifically for their quartet. They have been acclaimed as one of the world's finest musi- cal ensembles. The quartet also had a Grammy nominated CD titled, "The Seven Last Words of Christ" which has been broadcasted throughout the world. This week's performance is expected to be rav- ishing with embellished sounds resulting in a mesmerizing experience. The Vermeer Quartet have quite an expectation to live up to which they will no doubt prove at Saturday night's perfor- mance. IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO TURN YOUR LIFE AROUND.' COME TO A MICHIGAN DAILY MASS MEETING. JAN. 16, 18 AND 22 AT P.M. IN THE STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BUILDING. COME STRONG OR STAY HOME. Cour,'tesy of UMS Vermeer Quartet rocks Rackham on Saturday. The Vermeer Quartet consist of Slimuel Ashkenasi as the first violinist, Mathias Tacke, second violinist, Richafd Young, violist and Marc Johnson as the cellist of the ensemble. These tal- and will prove their capabilities as they have in the past, living up to theirworldy claims. 'WB jumps on reality trend with 'Popstars' By Jacquelene Smith Daily Arts Writer Ever since the debut of "The Real World," TV networks have been indefati- gable in their search for their own perfect "reality" based show that will strike a chord with a major audience. "Reality" is of course used loosely here and should not be confused with what is actually Popstars The WB Tonight at 9 females. In the first real. Be honest, how many of you showed up for MTV's casting call when they visited Ann Arbor? Let's see a show of hands. The WB puts forth the effort with " Popstars." Remember that other show "Making the Band?" Same con- cept, but this time it's ; with five installment of this America temporarily abandon their everyday lives and revel, if only for a fleeting moment, in the idea that they could be the next Brittany Spears. Wait. There's more. Ordinarily. it would be easy to dismiss such a shamefully capitalistic degrada- tion of music. Quite honestly, many of these wannabes deserve credit for having the courage to stand up in front of a hun- dred other girls and sing a piece of "What a Girl Wants," "I Will Always Love You" or "How Do I Live." I'm partial to the second song. It sounds fabulous in the shower. But there's no way I'd have the guts to belt it out with Miss Pre-teen USA standing next to me. The WB does a decent job of showing the awkwardness and even humiliation some of them feel after being rejected or shown up by the girl they've been waiting in line with for six hours who says she doesn't have much vocal experience but is in fact some niece of Whitney Houston's. She gets the callback. I don't. The competition is ruthless. I say watch it. Watch it to see who makes the cut. So what if they're not on a desert island and who cares whether or not if one of them is trying to sabotage the entire group. Watch it to see how you measure up. Don't diss it 'til you've tried it bubblegum-flavored serial/documentary, three judges, a music manager, the new group's manager and a choreographer, travel to five different U.S. cities to hold auditions. Thousands of females across «. - ~i, E i iI~ri